Local Woman Succeeds At Getting Back In The Saddle

Boca Raton resident Cheryl Friedman rode her horse, The Billy Bob, to a second-place finish in the world championship horse show Aug. 19-25 at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville.

The road to Louisville began when Friedman, then a travel agent in Houston, began taking lessons in 1990. She sustained a bad riding accident in December of that year, breaking her back and ribs and required a brace, therapy and "recovery from fear," she said.

"There were a lot of aches and pain, and tears and frustration," she said. "I got scared, but I wouldn't give up."

She said that the sport is unusual in that as much depends on the horse as on the rider.

"It's not like playing soccer," she said. "You're rated on how well you and your mount present yourselves."

She said that the judges, a panel of three, rank horse and rider on beauty, brilliance, elegance, refinement, expression and high action. They're looking for a long, flowing mane and tail on the horse.

"The horse needs to show good manners and presence," she said. "It's a living, breathing thing. You win sometimes when you shouldn't and you lose sometimes when you shouldn't."

She boards The Billy Bob at the Carowill Farm in Cartersville, Ga., where Bobby Gatlin is the trainer.

Next on her agenda is the Southeastern Charity in Conyers, Ga.

"It's a hometown show, so we have to do it. Then we get to goof off until February or March," she said.

Baseball

Twelve county high schools began winter play last Monday at Palm Beach Community College's Lake Worth campus.